Do Ultimate Mechanics dream of Auto Pitchers?
by Kazuichi.souda.can
Summary: Being an Ultimate Mechanic is tough, but it's even harder being Miss Ultimate Despair's right hand man. Especially when she asks you to help kill all your friends. Including someone you have some... mixed history with. It's even worse when you decide to defy her and save that certain someone. Bubblegum Rock (Leon x Souda)
1. Chapter 1 - Side: Present

When Kazuichi Souda had first entered Hopes Peak Academy he had not expected that on his 20th Birthday he'd be approached by the Ultimate Fashion Idol and asked to build her a set of 15 Executions, all specially designed to kill his friends.

He'd expected even less that he'd agree to such an absurd and insane proposition.

But here he was, lounging comfortably back in his chair, with the Fashion Idol grinning down on him with that smile that could – to this day – be found on magazine covers. From her perch on the edge of the table, she swung her legs with the enthusiasm of a five-year-old, not the 19 year old crazed maniac she was.

"So whatdya say? You up for the challenge?" Her voice had settled on a sing song like tone, but it would probably change again soon. The divas personality changed quicker than her wardrobe and Souda had to admit, it was a pain in the ass to talk to her sometimes.

He picked at a piece of rust on his trusty spanner, forcing a look of nonchalant onto his face. "Challenge? What challenge? This is easy, Junko. Give me a real project."

The pink haired Despair pouted at him. "But Souuuuuuuda, I need someone I can trust on this one! And this IS a big project. This isn't your run of the mill, drowning, hanging, bashing witch trial execution, this is gonna be huge! Each one's gonna be personalised, and full of total utter despair!" There it was, whatever personality this one was. It was too loud and excited for Souda's taste – and ears.

Junko was practically shaking with excitement, hugging herself as if to try and contain her feelings. Her eyes were dazed and her mouth was practically drooling. Souda looked away in disgust, his pink brows knitting together into a thoughtful frown.

"What do you mean by personalised?" The words left his mouth involuntarily, his curiosity getting the better of him. This only prompted Junko's wide grin to grow into a Cheshire cat smile - it was demonic and frightening. It made Souda smile himself.

That was the thing about her curse. Once you were under it you started to think a little like her, feel and think like her. _Enjoy despair_ like her. It was disgusting, a part of you always knows something is wrong, clings onto that part of humanity you once held. But it's not like that part of you is anything more than just a voice in the back of your head.

Souda's voice was screaming at him, telling him to sock that pink haired bitch in the face. To tell her to stick those plans where the sun don't shine. To take this wrench and bludgeon her with it, or better yet-

"Personalised! Like to everyone's Ultimates duh! I've got all the plans drawn up already, so you don't have to do the creative thinking part," She winked at him like she was doing him some favour. "All you gotta do is make them all. I'll get some of the others to go out and fetch you any materials you need." She waved a hand in the air nonchalantly.

The others. She meant his classmates. His friends who'd fallen into despair with him.

They were just tools for Junko to get her way with the world. Can't have a plan with no man power to carry them out, and his classmates had the perfect selection of Ultimates for Junko to use.

But they weren't the only ones - Souda was a tool too. He was Junko's favourite, she'd said that enough times, because of his ability to create basically anything. Of course, The Ultimate Despair had loved Sonia's influence in taking over her whole country only to send it spiralling into mass chaos and rioting, as well as Mahirus ability to spread Despair with her beautiful images of said chaos.

But she'd picked Souda as her favourite, because with his Ultimate Mechanic title she'd found he was incredibly adept at creating huge robots. And even though she had a huge construction lines worth of Monokumas flowing out of Towa City, Souda could make then hundreds of times bigger and better. More than Monaca could promise her. And a little-known fact about Junko was that she loved Huge Robots of Mass Destruction. Therefore, Souda was her favourite little tool.

And of course, he was also incredibly useful to her in her current project. The Killing School Life. She needed someone to make her main events. The true icing on the cake. _The despair_.

The executions.

Junko pulled out a roll of blueprints from seemingly nowhere, and suddenly she was wearing those damn glasses as if she was about to lecture Souda in Quantum Physics – which knowing some of her moods, she might actually do. She hopped off the table, spreading the blue prints out in the spot she'd been sat, and motioned for Souda to come over. He left his seat with a sigh, and peered over her shoulder at the prints.

"What's this then?" He asked, even though he could probably guess. Each blueprint had a picture of a student from Hopes Peak, along with their name and a set of sketches of some kind of machine or device.

On one, he could see 'Aoi Asahina, the Ultimate Swimming Pro' printed, along with a photo of a smiling brown-haired girl with wide blue eyes. Next to her photo was a drawing of what looked like a large… tank?

Another showed 'Sayaka Maizono, the Ultimate Pop Sensation', with a photo of a girl with long blue hair. This time the drawing showed a large stage and some kind of meter.

Sakura, Makoto, Hifumi. The names went on. Kiyotaka, Mondo, Chihiro, Byakuya, Hagakure, Kirigiri, Celeste, Toko…

His hand snatched up the last blueprint. Junko; apparently explaining in response to his previous question, actually shut up at this, a small smile making its way onto her face. "Find something?"

Souda didn't respond, his eyes refusing to leave the piece of paper in his hands. No. This was bullshit. This was stretching even for her. She didn't seriously think he would-

He smiled.

Oh, the irony. The cruel, cruel irony. He could feel its icy grips covering him, taking him under again. Taking him into the inky black, numb abyss. The pain there was all he felt and it was welcoming. Such grief, such sadness. It was true and utter… despair.

His vision grew darker again, and he could feel himself chuckling against his will. It was a dry laugh, and it sounded so much unlike him. But he wasn't in control anymore. It was.

She was.

The piece of paper dropped out of his hands, and he was striding toward the door before he even knew what was happening. He heard Junko call after him. "Where do you think you're going?"

His lips moved on his own, and with a voice completely devoid of any sanity he replied, "To work of course!"

The piece of paper lay discarded on the floor for many hours, slowly collecting dust. A pale face with a wide grin and fiery red hair looked up from the paper, and next to him the drawing that had sent Souda spiralling into despair once more.

An auto pitcher.

It just so happened that this exact model was his present on his 18th birthday.


	2. Chapter 2 - Side: Past

Chapter 2

Side: Past

There's a certain thing about fate that's incredibly odd. It has its weird timing, its funny way of working. Its unexpected and never lets you have time to prepare.

In Souda's case, he probably would've showered that morning or worn a slightly less oil stained pair of overalls if he'd known fate was working its magic that day.

However he _didn't_ know that, so he was dressed in his usual bright blue overalls and beanie, his hair scruffly tucked into his hat, as he left class for lunch. He hung back of the group to walk next to Sonia, the Ultimate Princess – or Ultimate Dream Girl as dubbed by him – as she chatted excitedly to Ibuki, the Ultimate Musician. Souda wasn't really listening to either of them but he liked to pretend to be a part of their conversation for whatever reason. He thought if Sonia saw him around enough she might think fondly of him but… it wasn't really working.

"I've heard there's an Ultimate Martial Artist joining! You think he's gonna give Nekomaru and Akane a run for their money?" Ibuki grinned a wide smile, and for a second Souda almost thought her cheek piercings would pop out. They didn't, thankfully.

Sonia, smiled back, shifting her books in her arms. "No doubt about it." She said, with her stilted English accent. Her English was perfect it just never flowed 'quite right' in a sentence, with an air of poshness that made it sound a little forced. That made her all the more unique in Souda's eyes.

Noticing an opportunity to gain some brownie points Souda quickly cut into the conversation, "H-hey Sonia do you need help with those books I-" He was quickly cut off by a loud shout from behind.

"Yo! Chick with the pink hair, looking gooood!"

Souda, Ibuki and Sonia all stopped at the boy's voice, turning around sharply to see the commotion. However, there weren't many people in the hall behind as most had already escaped to lunch, which left a group of two boys and a girl. One of the boys was a red head with a small matching goatee, clad in practically all white, his hands were cupped around his mouth, so it was pretty safe to assume he was the culprit. The other boy wore a long black trenchcoat, and his hair was styled into a long brown quiff. Souda assumed the two boys were friends, or at least, in the same class. The girl tugged on the taller boy's jacket sleeve, giggling loudly. The girl had shoulder length brown hair and wore a simple brown skirt and a green cardigan. It seemed none of them were wearing Hopes Peaks Uniform, which wasn't too uncommon, since it wasn't exactly mandatory.

Although it felt like a few minutes, in actuality it took all of half a millisecond for everyone's eyes to zero in on Souda, realising he was the Pink Haired Chick in question.

Realising some dude had just called him a chick – a good looking one at that – and that everyone was staring at him, his face flushed a bright shade of red as he grabbed his beanie to pull it low over his eyes.

"H-hey what the hell man?! I'm not some chick!" He stammered out under his beanie protective shield, completely mortified that he'd been mistaken for some girl. This had never, ever happened before. Sure some people had asked why he'd gone for pink of all colours to die his hair and why he wore eyeliner but… This was a whole new low.

The red-haired boy who'd done the cat-calling paled for a second, realising why the small girl had been giggling – for she had realised it way before he had - and then resumed a shade of red similar to Souda.

"Oh my god I am so sorry dude." The boy strode forward, his hand outreached. When Souda refused to remove his hands from his beanie, he let his hand drop to his side. "I uh, I only got to see you from behind if that helps?"

"THAT DOESN'T HELP AT ALL." Souda choked out, albeit it a little loudly. What was this guy insinuating? Had he been looking at his ass? Did he have a woman's ass?

During this whole ordeal Ibuki and Sonia had taken a few steps back, their giggles quiet, but unmistakeable.

"Oh uh god, shit, I am so sorry dude I really am. It was Mondo's fault he told me to go for it, I mean." The red head jutted a finger back at his other friend, the boy in the long jacket. The boy in question shook his head furiously, refusing the accusation. "Haaaaaaaaaaaah….."

There was an awkward silence filled only with the giggling from the two girls, as Souda refused to speak. Clearly his throat loudly, the boy tried again, "The names uh, Leon. Leon Kuwata. And you?"

Souda cautiously dropped his hands from his beanie, shoving them into his pockets. "The names Kazuichi Souda. And it's not a girl's name I think you'll find."

The boy – Leon, let out a short chuckle at that. "Yeah yeah, I figured that. Look I really am sorry, you look nothing like a chick up close. But the hairs super rad man, I might have to think about going pink myself after this." He brushed a hand through his own spiky red hair. "Hey uh, you a first year too? I don't think I've seen you around yet."

Souda blinked a few times, confused by the sudden change in atmosphere. Leon had just become ten times comfier around him and some of the awkwardness in the air shifted. He shook his head. "No, actually. I'm a Class 78th student. So you're a 77 then?"

"Yeah man! Me, Mondo and Chihiro are all in the same class too. Guess that makes you our senior or something." Leon grinned a wide toothy grin, and Souda smiled back. Suddenly a pair of hands were grabbing at his face and he resisted the urge to shriek loudly. "Holy shit man wait!"

Souda wasn't entirely sure what was happening right now but this guy he'd just met was pushing his lips apart with his thumbs to stare right at his teeth, and it wasn't exactly what he'd call a 'comfortable situation'.

"Holy shit! You have like shark teeth? Man, that is so rad how did you do that? How much did that hurt?!" Leons words were flying out of his mouth and Souda realised for the first time that this dude was taller than him despite being younger. It wasn't much of a height difference but enough that Souda was left looking up at him as his face continued to be squished and inspected.

Leon finally stopped asking questions, and gave the pink haired boy an expectant look as if he wanted to answer, and all Souda could do in response was shrug. He still had thumbs in his mouth afterall. Leon quickly apologised and removed his hands, wiping them on the sides of his black jeans.

"Sorry about that man," He said with a short chuckle.

Souda just smiled back awkwardly and waved it off. "It's cool, really. It happens… a lot actually. Hah" He forced out a nervous chuckle. It wasn't that he was anxious over his teeth, it was… well no that was it. They did give him anxiety. Cause people either loved them or thought he was a freak for it. And with that kind of 50/50 odds you tended to develop some kind of insecurity.

Leon looked around the hall, and at this motion Souda realised that the corridor was extremely quiet. This snapped him out of his dazed bubble, suddenly panicked that Ibuki and Sonia were gone. What were they gonna say to the others? Leon seemed to notice his panic and stepped in again. "Hey uh, do you usually sit with anyone at lunch?"

Even he knew that was a stupid question, and Souda quickly interjected, defending himself. "Of course! I have friends ya kno-"

"Cool! You can come sit with me. We better hurry before lunch ends." Leon was already striding down the hall and Souda stood there dumbfounded. Things were too confusing around that boy. They went from 0-60 and back again in two seconds. One second he was talking about his hair and the next he was accusing him of having no friends.

Souda shook his head and sprinted down the corridor after his new red headed friend.

Things were sure to get interesting this year.

In the lunch hall Ibuki and Sonia had joined the others at their usual table at the back of the cafeteria, the one by the big open windows. It wasn't uncommon for them to sit as a class, especially since Chisa – their teacher – had brought them all together last year. The only people missing from their table was Akane Owari, the Ultimate Gymnast, Nekomaru Nidai, the Ultimate Team Manager, Chiaki Nanami, the Ultimate Gamer, and Souda.

Akane was somewhere in the kitchen, sneaking more food from Teruteru Hanamuras premade supply, much to his annoyance. Nekomaru was in the bathroom after loudly shouting something about shit, five minutes before. Chiaki was god knows where, but she was probably playing on her GameGirl wherever she was.

And Ibuki and Sonia knew where Souda was, since they'd abandoned him there to get to lunch before Akane could wipe out the school's food supply. Ibuki was practically twitching in her seat at this point since Souda had been gone way too long. He knew what Akane could – and would – do to that kitchen.

"Hey Sonia, you don't think that guy actually decided to ask Souda out on the spot do ya?" Ibuki asked the blonde-haired girl on her left.

More than just Sonia's head turned at that.

"Kazuichi got a date?" Teruteru's voice all but shouted. This must've been some lucky day. If that boy could get a date then maybe there was a hope for him… He slid down into his seat, the fantasies already playing in front of his eyes.

Of course, Teruteru's exclamation had gotten the attention of the rest of the table, and suddenly everyone was looking straight at Ibuki. She raised her hands in a defensive position. "Hey! That's not what Ibuki said!"

Sonia put a finger to her chin appearing to think deeply. "It is true that Souda may have been caught off guard with the accusations and made very easily susceptible to a kind of lust spell. It is not impossible that he is already lost to us."

Suddenly a dark figure was looming over the two girls, and Ibuki had to whip her head out of the way to avoid getting hit with a long scarf. "Lust spell you say? Those are not uncommon in the demon realm. However, have you considered a curse instead? Those are much easier to concoct given you have the correct blood pre-prepared."

"Oh for fucks sake Gundham no one's cast a damn spell or curse." Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu's voice spoke up from the end of the table. He kicked his legs up onto the table effortlessly. "He's just late."

However, this didn't deter Gundham Tanaka as he reached inside his jacket for his four pet hamsters – or Four Dark Devas of Destruction as he called them – only to place them on the middle of the table a safe distance away, and began drawing some kind of intricate pentagram into the hard wood.

"Gundham you shouldn't do that. Last time you did this you pissed off that one janitor and he told the principal." Mahiru Koizomi said, her head sinking into her palm. "You're going to get us all in trouble."

"Am I the only one who's happy for Souda? This is a wonderful day for him, it looks like his luck is beginning to change," Said a voice that no one noticed, or perhaps were ignoring. The boy shook his head in dismay, his white hair bouncing wildly.

"Fear not mortal, for we can cover this ritual with a simple tablecloth and no one will be the wiser," Gundham proudly announced, dismissing Mahiru with a brief wave of his hand. A few of the students at nearby tables looked over at his booming voice, already visibly edging away.

Ibuki stood up waving her hands. "Don't mind us! We're not doing anything. Nothing dangerous here!"

Somehow the students paled a little further at that.

The table quickly dissolved into chaos, as Gundham produced candles and a liquid that looked a little too pink not to be suspicious, Sonia wasn't exactly helping stop him, Ibuki was standing guard shouting about how 'nothing's happening, don't call security!', Fuyuhiko was no help either as his only interjection into the situation was the occasional profanity filled statement and Peko sat silently beside him, Mikan Tsumiki stood over Teruteru attempting to wake him out of his dazed state, Nagito Komaeda was off on some rant about hope and luck and the joys of it all, Mahiru kept her face planted firmly in her hands, refusing to acknowledge this was happening – again, Midarai appeared to be helping Gundham with his demon ritual as he became increasingly agitated with the animal breeder's messy patterns, and Hiyoko…

"Wait a second, didn't you say 'guy'? Wouldn't that make Souda ga-" Mahiru punched the blonde haired girl in the shoulder before she could finish. It wasn't hard - the Photographer didn't have the heart to really hurt her friend - but Hiyoko let out a wounded yelp. "Hey! I can only assume after what Ibuki Said!"

"Well you shouldn't make assumptions about our friends." Mahiru replied with her usual lecturing tone.

It was true that the thought of Souda being gay was pretty preposterous, given his current obsession with one Sonia Nevermind, although even Mahiru couldn't shake the idea that it wasn't entirely implausible…

And so the chaos at the table continued, with the students nearby becoming increasingly agitated by the antics of Class 2-B. That was until- "Hey it's the man of the damn hour." It was Fuyuhiko's voice that shut the group up and they all stopped in their tracks to look where he was staring.

Their eyes were on the cafeteria doors where, sure enough, Souda was striding in. However, he wasn't alone. A boy slightly taller than him with bright red hair was walking in alongside him. In fact, his arm was wrapped around Souda's head in a relaxed kind of choke hold. They were both grinning, as they walked in, heading to the other end of the lunch room, looking for a vacant table.

Souda didn't even so much as glance in the direction of his classmates. If he had though, he would have seen a series of shocked faces staring back.

There was an eerie silence as Souda and the new boy sat at a table, laughing audibly across the hall. The rest of his class sat watching for a few moments.

"It appears the curse is far stronger than I have previously anticipated. We must get back to work!"


End file.
